Infra Insight Blog

Recognizing the innovative P3 approach to project delivery and financial structure for a major US infrastructure project, the Bond Buyer awarded the Indiana Finance Authority's private activity bonds for the East End Crossing the Deal of the Year Award at its annual event held at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City.  Notably, this is the first P3 transaction to win the award.

The $1.2B East End Crossing, a portion of the $2.6B Ohio River Bridges project, one of the largest transportation undertakings in the U.S. and the first availability payment P3 for the Indiana Finance ...

The New York State Thruway Authority has received federal approval of a 35-year low interest loan for the $4.8 billion Tappan Zee bridge replacement project through the federal government’s Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA).  As previously reported, the Authority originally applied for credit assistance for up to 49% of eligible project costs under the expanded MAP-21 TIFIA credit assistance program.  The final loan amount only covers 33% of eligible project costs, but is still the largest award in the history of the TIFIA program.  The ...

The Congressional Public Private Partnerships (P3) Caucus held its first public event on Tuesday, November 19 in the Cannon House Office Building.  Co-chairs Reps. Mike Rogers (R-AL) and Gerald Connolly (D-VA) were joined by caucus member John Delaney (D-MD) for an hour-long discussion entitled Innovating public service delivery with P3s."  Panelists were Porter K. Wheeler, Ph.D., P3 Policy Program at George Mason University; Drew Preston, Manager, Congressional and Public Affairs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce; Matt Reiffer, Director, Transportation Programs, American Council ...

The U.S. Department of Transportation is looking to hire a new Director of the Office of Infrastructure Finance and Innovation.

The Office of Transportation Policy is responsible for recommending overall surface transportation policy initiatives to the Secretary as well as reviewing all proposed Department of Transportation (DOT) rulemakings, legislation, testimony and reports to Congress.  Additionally, the office is responsible for reviewing economic analyses of air safety regulations, reviewing airport infrastructure programs, and planning air freight ...

On November 14, a bipartisan group of ten U.S. Senators, led by Mark Warner (D-VA) and Roy Blunt (R-MO), introduced legislation to create a new independent Infrastructure Financing Authority (IFA) to issue loans and loan guarantees for transportation, water, and energy transmission, storage and distribution infrastructure.  S. 1716, titled the Building and Renewing Infrastructure for Development and Growth in Employment or BRIDGE Act, has been referred to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation for review. Other cosponsors are Lindsey Graham (R-SC ...

The Indiana Finance Authority (IFA) issued its Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for an availability payments public private partnership for the financing, building and operating of the Indiana portion of the Illiana Corridor Project (the Indiana Portion) and I-65 Added Capacity Project (I-65 Project and collectively with the Indiana Portion, the Project) on November 12.  The Illiana Corridor Project is a collaborative effort among the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), Indiana Department of Transportation, and IFA to construct a highway, approximately 46.8 ...

Last week I attended an invitation only round table organized by Karen Hedlund, Deputy Administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration.  The round table was held in conjunction with the High Speed Rail Conference held at LA Metro's headquarters in Los Angeles, California.  With the House T&I Committee expected to begin marking up a rail bill, Ms. Hedlund sought ideas about how to expand the Railroad Rehabilitation Improvement Financing credit program to be a more useful source of low cost debt capital for commuter rail projects.  Around for a number of years, RRIF has been ...

As long time participants in the alternative delivery sector know, the Design-Build Institute of America has from its earliest days sought to set forth guiding principles that would be universally applicable across all sectors--no small task. At its annual conference this week in Las Vegas, Mike Loulakis and Diane Hoag presented the latest revised draft of its recommended best practices, called "Design-Build Done Right."

While the organization expects these principles to evolve and be refined over time, it is seeking comments on this new version before November 15, 2013. The ...

On Saturday, October 19, 13 cars on a Canadian National train derailed west of Edmonton, Alberta, and three cars carrying liquefied natural gas leaked and burned.  No injuries were reported.  This accident follows a similar incident in July in which a train with 72 tank cars of crude oil derailed in the town of Lac-Megantic, Quebec.  That derailment triggered a series of explosions that killed 47 people. The tank cars carrying the oil were non-pressure tank cars that meet specific DOT containment standards, classified as DOT-111 cars.

These incidents have attracted scrutiny from ...

The California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) issued its Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Construction Package 2-3 (CP2-3) on October 10 and will be hosting an industry forum for the project on October 29, 2013.  The RFQ calls for contractors to submit their qualifications to bid on the second phase of high speed rail construction, consisting of a 60-mile route from Fresno south to the Tulare-Kern County line near Bakersfield.  The construction contract for the first 29 miles, from Madera to Fresno, was signed on August 19 of this year.

Firms will have until December 6 to ...